


Artificial Tears on an Artificial Face

by Pinkwebby



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, Arguing, Break Up, Connor Deserves Happiness, Cussing, Deviant Connor (Detroit: Become Human), Emotional Hurt, Established Relationship, Gavin Reed Being an Asshole, Hurt No Comfort, M/M, Poor Connor, Post-Peaceful Android Revolution (Detroit: Become Human)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-03
Updated: 2020-10-03
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:35:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26798194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pinkwebby/pseuds/Pinkwebby
Summary: Gavin Reed can't handle it anymore.
Relationships: Connor/Gavin Reed
Comments: 3
Kudos: 43





	Artificial Tears on an Artificial Face

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you once again to MechaBones for beta'ing this. You are a treasured friend and I love ya! [MechanicalBones' Tumblr!](https://mechabones.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Also here's my tumblr! I post bullshit and my fics over there too! [My Tumbleweed](https://pinkwebby.tumblr.com/)

“I can’t.”

“You… can’t?”

The words felt stuck in his throat, but Connor forced them out anyway. 

“I can’t keep fucking going on like this. I’m tired, Con,” Gavin shoved his hands in his pockets. Hands that Connor knew so well. 

Ones that he wished he could hold.

They stood in the back alley of the DPD, Gavin still in that hostile stance while Connor stared him down with turmoil stirring in his mahogany eyes.

A moment of brief silence passed between them before Connor spoke again, “Then I can be better. W-we can tell everyone, we don’t have to keep hiding like this-”

“But I don’t want that,” Gavin plucked the cigarette from his lips and blew out a column of smoke, his voice having a rough edge to it. Connor hated when he smoked, that he carried the smell of cigarettes with him no matter where he went. 

Connor stared at him incredulously, as if the detective just sprouted a second head. He had to be joking, right? Everyone knew Gavin Reed for his cruel jokes, but this was too far. Anger swelled in his chest and he couldn’t swallow it down.

How could he sound so cruel, yet seem so nonchalant about it, like his words were not a stab to the chest? 

“Don’t you think I’m tired too, Gavin? Tired of trying to protect that fragile ego of yours?” He couldn’t keep the venom from his voice as he glared over at Gavin.

Gavin straightened up where he stood, and his eyes narrowed. Disdain was written all over his features, and Connor could feel his heart wrench from it. 

Gavin hadn’t looked at him like that since- since-

“My ego ain’t fucking fragile. You’re the one who doesn’t want to be seen with some asshole detective who is supposed to fucking hate androids,” he spat back as he tossed his cigarette to the cement and ground the heel of his boot into it.

“You know that isn’t true! You’re the one with the reputation! You sing your praises for Tina because she has an android girlfriend, but when she asks you if anything’s going on between us, you always reject the idea. Because how could you date a piece of plastic?”

“Fuck off, Connor. That never fucking happened!” Gavin growled out, but Connor could see his heart-rate spike. They both knew that he was in the wrong, but he refused to admit it. 

Because this was Gavin fucking Reed he was talking to.

“Why am I here, Detective? Are you finally breaking _this_ off then?”

Nothing hurt more than saying those words, especially when Connor had to use such a cruel tone when he spoke. But he had to cut his emotions off from the conversation, or else they would end up in another fight. 

Gavin seemed to flounder at the series of questions, opening and closing his mouth as he stared at the android. His cheeks were flushed from the harsh Detroit winter, and he kept himself huddled in that dinky red jacket that he had owned for years. 

He looked _pathetic_.

“There was never anything there in the first place, was there?” Connor continued, every word like barbs in his throat. He crossed his arms over his chest, as if he could get cold. 

No, it was to protect himself from Gavin, to shield himself from the pain. Like that’d work. Nothing could shield him from the pain that Gavin inflicted. 

The uncomfortable silence could make the most hardened detective crack under the pressure. They glared at one another as if they hadn’t already come so far. Like they were enemies once again. As if they hadn’t shared many long nights in each other’s arms. Shared secrets no one else should know, stolen kisses away from prying eyes.

And to think all of it meant nothing in the end? Connor could see the static forming in his peripheral vision. A blood red warning popped up on his HUD that his stress levels were increasing. 

“How could there be?” Gavin finally replied, and his voice was still so nonchalant that Connor could feel his resolve breaking.

“How dare you ask me that question-” Connor’s voice trembled as he spoke. He couldn’t even see clearly at this point. He clenched his fist at his side and synthetic nails dug into chassis. “-How dare you treat me like some toy to throw away when you’re done? How _fucking_ dare you, Gavin!”

Pain was etched into every feature on Connor’s face and he hoped that Reed saw it, prayed that he would even care just a little. That his guilt would twist around in his stomach for years to come every time he even glanced over in Connor’s direction. Because-

“I love you.” The words burst from Connor’s mouth like an oncoming tsunami, and he couldn’t stop it. They had refused to use such words when they first got together, Gavin didn’t trust anyone enough to love. And Connor hadn’t even known what the word meant.

But he did now.

And he knew, _oh he knew_. He could see it written all over Gavin’s face. The disbelief, the disgust. No matter how many times he said that to him, that he would never love Connor back. And the anguish from that revelation was almost too much to bear. His stress levels approached dangerous levels, it filled his HUD with red static. The only thing he could see clearly was Gavin’s face, shadowed under the cover of the building.

“You were my sunlight, Gavin! It drew me to you like a moth to a flame, but it seems like I was the only one getting burned! _I_ was the fool in the relationship… If you could even call it that.” Connor spat out through the pain. He could feel the tears, the way they welled up in his eyes and threw him out into a choppy sea, leaving him stranded. Gavin was his life raft and the bastard would let him drown. 

“I can’t love something that isn’t real. You aren’t fucking real, Connor. You’re just a piece of machinery. Your programming is telling you that you love me and you’re listening to it like the good little robot you are.”

No, he couldn’t do this anymore. Connor placed a hand over his eyes to block Gavin, so he couldn’t see the tears. So Gavin couldn’t see his face. What would he say? That he was weak? Pathetic, even?

The only pathetic one Connor could see here was Gavin Reed.

“So yeah, you were just a toy to me. Now if you don’t fucking mind, I have work to get back too.” And with that, the detective pushed himself off the wall he’d been leaning on and headed towards the door to the bullpen.

Connor didn’t hear him go inside, he couldn’t hear anything. Not over the static that filled his ears. He lifted his hands and stared at them silently, as if his palms could somehow show him what he did wrong. His synthetic skin melted away to reveal the stark, white plastic underneath.

Detective Reed was right. 

How could anyone love a machine?

A most vile and despicable creature.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this for Convin September, but this was the only piece I got out for the event. But expect a few fics to come out soon, including a lot of Captain Allen appreciation :]


End file.
